Police confident of arresting suspects of Giriulla killing

The
slaying of the Minuwangoda Pradeshiya Sabha Member, Dinesh Indika
Chandrasiri of the United Peopleís Freedom Alliance (UPFA) came as a
shock to those who knew him and to the people of the Minuwangoda
electorate whom he represented.

Dinesh Indika Chandrasiriís body was found lying beside his
motorcycle and his helmet at the Mohiniís Bridge in the Minuwangoda area
December last year.

People who spotted his cold body lying at the bridge rushed him to
the government hospital at Dambadeniya but he was already dead by that
time. The incident appeared to be a typical motor cycle accident where
the motor bike had crashed onto the bridge fatally injuring the rider.

Open verdict

The
Minuwangoda police visited the scene and commenced initial
investigations of the fatal accident. The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO)
of the Gampaha Hospital who held the autopsy returned an open verdict
surrounding the mysterious circumstances in which the Pradeshiya Sabha
member died. Consequently, people bagan to send petitions to the Police
Headquarters in Colombo.

The petitions were from residents of Minuwangoda who did not believe
that Indikaís death came about as a result of an accident, and they
demanded a probe further.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) N.K. Ilangakone after perusing
several petitions, directed the Senior Deputy Inspector of Police (DIG)
Anura Senanayake in Charge of the Colombo Crime Divisionís to probe the
accidental death further. Senior DIG Senanayake in turn called the
Colombo Crime Division (CCD) Director, Superintendent of Police B.L.
Ranaweera to investigate the accident. A crack team of sleuths drawn
from the Special Investigation Unit of the Colombo Crime Division was
entrusted with the job to probe the mysterious nature of the fatal road
accident.

The Police team examined the damage caused to the motor cycle and
came to the conclusion that it was not an accident by any stretch of
imagination.

They found severe injuries on the skull and the leg of the deceased
was not compatible with the damage caused to the motorcycle. They even
found the helmet that he wore did not bear damages and there were no
patches of blood at the scene of the accident. Director, CCD, SP,
Ranaweera, SI Ajith Senanayake, PC Sarath Chandra, PC Tusitha, PC
Gunesekera, PC Jagath, PC Ruwan visited the scene.

Underworld links

The SPI sleuths immediately began their work and found the deceased
Pradeshiya Sabha member had links with the underworld gangs in the area
prior to being elected to office.

The underworld gangs were later identified as Heenetiya Asithaís
gang. Asitha was killed some time ago and a man named Susantha had taken
over the reins of the notorious underworld gang. The gang operated in
the Heenetiyana in the Minuwangoda area with impunity.

With painstaking investigations, the sleuths also discovered that the
deceased Pradeshiya Sabha member Dinesh Indika Chandrasiri had
cultivated a friendship with underworld men such as Ravul (moustached)
Indika and Susantha. The three men became close buddies over a period of
time.

The two underworld men helped the Pradeshiya Sabha member to achieve
his political objectives. However, their happiness was short-lived due
to underworld activity.

Susantha and Ravul Indika fell out with each other and became arch
arivels and vowed to kill each other. The deceased Pradeshiya Sabha
member, Dinesh Indika Chandrasiri became sandwiched as a result.

He did his utmost to quell their rivalry but in vain. It did not
serve any purposel.

The rivalry between Ravul Indika and Susantha reached a peak when
Susantha discovered that Ravul Indika was making plans to assassinate
him.

Susantha was shocked beyond words when he learnt of the plot. Six
months ago RavulIndika confronts Susantha in the Heenetiyana area and
shoots him down but he escapes with injuries.

Last December, Susantha and a friend having attended an alms-giving
function at Minuwangoda were returning home on a motorcycle. The
motorcycle was ridden by Susantha.

On their way home they stopped the motor cycle at a lonely stretch of
road to relieve themselves.

Thereafter Susantha climbed on to the pillion and his friend rode the
motorcycle. An underworld man had tipped off Ravul Indika that Susantha
was seen riding a motorcycle and was heading towards Minuwangoda.

The moment he heard the news, Ravul Indika grabbed his T-56 firearm
and rode his motorcycle to encounter Susantha on the Minuwangoda road.
He then calmly parked his motorcycle on the side of the road and
patiently stayed for Susanthaís arrival.

The midday sun was excruciatingly hot and beads of sweat were pouring
from his face.

Before long, he noticed a motorcycle from a distance barrelling down
the road at full speed.

There was hardly any time to identify the rider at close quarters. So
he aimed his T-56 firearm at the rider while riding his motorcycle and
pulled the trigger at close range releasing a volley of shots that rang
from the T-56 weapon. Ravul Indika saw the rider falling off the
motorcycle and he believed that it was Susantha.

He then rode off quickly in the opposite direction to avoid being
identified by the pillion rider but did not realise that he dropped his
mobile phone on the road accidentally.

Susantha who was in the pillion at the time of the shooting also
sustained injuries on his hand but escaped death. There were several
gun- shot wounds on the chest and the head of the man who rode the motor
cycle.

He succumbed to his injuries on the spot in a matter of few minutes.

After the assassin fled from the spot, Susantha picked up the mobile
phone which was found lying on the ground and took it home.

After nursing his injuries at a medical clinic, Susantha went home,
taking with him the mobile phone of Ravul Indika after having carefully
juggled the numbers on the phone.

He found to his horror that Pradeshiya Sabha member, Dinesh Indika
Chandrasiri had phoned Ravul Indika on that very day. Susantha was in a
rage and went into a tailspin on seeing Dinesh Chandrasiriís number on
that phone.

He immediately suspected that it was Dinesh Chandrasiri who phoned
Ravul Indika and told him that he was riding a motorcycle after
attending an alms- giving. Thereafter, he harboured a grudge against the
Pradeshiya Sabha member and perpetually became his arch enemy.

Susantha, the underworld man meticulously planned to abduct the
Pradeshiya Sabha member Dinesh Indika Chandrasiri and kill him as soon
as he could lay his hands on him. It was on December 2011 that he put
his plan into action.

Susantha subsequently learned that Dinesh Indika Chandrasiri had
visited his brother's sonís school at Minuwangoda. According to Dinesh
Indika Chandrasiriís wife, he left home early that day on his motor-
cycle even without having his breakfast.

Having met his brother at the school he left the school premises
around 10.30 am. Although he promised his wife that he would be back at
home for lunch he never returned that day.

His wife constantly rang his mobile phone, but there was no answer.
She then rang up his brother who informed her that his brother left the
school premises around 10.30. am that day.

Around 6.45 pm. that evening some people in the Kotadeniyawa police
area saw a man lying on the Mohini bridge alongside a motor cycle.

The people who gathered found him lying unconscious on the road. They
were under the impression that it was a genuine accident and rushed him
to hospital.

After monitoring several phone messages, police finally arrested a
man linked to the killing last week.

Confession

The man confessed to the police everything that he knew about the
killing. The Pradeshiya Sabha member was abducted while riding his
motorcycle by an underworld gang travelling in a van and was taken to a
lonely spot at Giriulle where he was beaten to death with clubs and
poles.

They kept his body for some time there and when darkness fell they
brought brought to Mohini bridge and dumped it there with his motor
cycle.

Police have identified six suspects linked to the killing and they
are on the run.

They have also identified the van used for abducting the Pradeshiya
Sabha member. ďWe are confident of arresting the six suspects ď, police
said.